What happens when it cannot be staffed
The valuable row is the one struck out. A coverage record earns its place by naming the fallback before the date is agreed, not after it slips.
Buyer tool
Language Coverage Decision Matrix
Language, variety, task role, capacity, mobilisation and sampling get collapsed into a single line on a coverage sheet. This matrix separates them into decisions that can each be answered, and produces a coverage decision with an honest fallback.
About this resource
Use it: Before a language list is treated as delivery coverage.
300+ languages
1,000+ organizations served since 2015 across AI data, translation, localization, media, and interpretation.
1,000+ organizations served · 300+ languages · 4,500+ dialects
When to use this
Before a language list is treated as delivery coverage.
A language name is not a delivery answer. The buyer needs the right variety, script, task role, evidence and actual availability in the same answer.
What it produces
A coverage decision per combination: the variety and script required, who is validated and available, credible capacity, and what happens if it cannot be staffed.
The checklist
Language Coverage Decision Matrix
Every question below is on the page as text. Use the link on any row to send a colleague straight to that one question.
| Ask this | A useful answer is specific about | What the answer actually tells you |
|---|---|---|
| What exact source language, output language, variety and script does the work require? # | Source and output sides written separately, including regional variety and script where they affect the task. | Whether a broad language label is hiding a combination the supplier has not covered. |
| What role must the person perform in that combination? # | Collection, transcription, translation, review, evaluation, interpreting direction, or another named task. | Whether fluency is being mistaken for task competence. |
| How will the required variety or accent distinction be tested? # | A task that makes the distinction visible and a qualified person who judges the result. | Whether the supplier can demonstrate the distinction rather than simply claim familiarity. |
| What evidence supports this exact combination? # | The relevant test, sample or record in the Supplier Evidence Matrix, linked to the same role and task. | Whether the evidence belongs to this line or to a different capability claim. |
| Has the person or team been validated, and are they actually available? # | Validation and current availability answered separately, with any conditions still open. | Whether "approved" has been mistaken for ready to deploy. |
| What capacity is credible for this combination and period? # | Capacity tied to the exact role, operating conditions, confirmed availability, and the point when it must be checked again. | Whether the number can support a plan or is only an estimate. |
| Who is primary, who is backup, and what would make either one active? # | The designation, current availability, remaining onboarding or access, and the decision needed to assign the work. | Whether continuity exists beyond one suitable person. |
| What happens if the combination cannot be staffed as requested? # | The buyer’s choice to change timing, role, variety, scope, or supplier, made before delivery is promised. | Whether the coverage decision has an honest fallback rather than a forced yes. |
How to fill it in
Make each answer specific before you assess it.
Work through each question with the supplier. An answer should name the evidence behind it; a general yes leaves the question open. Write down unresolved questions to discuss together.
What counts as evidence
Something you can inspect, tied to the work you are buying.
A named owner, a document you can open, a sample produced under the instructions you will actually use, or a test whose result changes the decision. A capability statement, an organisation-wide headcount, or a claim about a different assignment does not answer these rows.
The document
Take it with you.
The PDF needs no sign-in, carries every row on this page, and is free to forward, copy into your own process, or quote in a document of your own. If it will not open for you, tell us and we will fix it the same day.
What you are left holding
The record this produces, and where it goes next.
The checklist is not the deliverable. The deliverable is the written record it leaves behind, and the decision that record lets somebody make.
Where this fits
Buyer guides that use this tool.
The guide explains what to look for; this checklist is what you take into the conversation. Both are published in full.
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